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Flash floods in Libya kill thousands of people. Photo/Reuters
TRIPOLI – Residents whose houses were swept away by floods in the city of Derna in eastern Libya a week ago faced a dilemma on Sunday (17/9/2023). Will they stay despite the lack of clean water or flee through an area full of land mines?
Thousands of people are feared dead after two dams above the Derna burst on September 10, collapsing residential blocks lining the normally dry river bed as people slept. Many bodies were swept into the sea and more than 1,000 people have been buried in mass graves.
Sunrise on Sunday revealed a scene of quiet destruction, with piles of rubble cleared on the sides of empty roads along with crumpled metal including car fragments.
Hamad Awad sat on a blanket on an empty street with a bottle of water and a bed beside him.
“I stayed in our area to try to clean it up and try to verify who was missing,” he said. “Thank God for giving us patience.”
The entire Derna district, with an estimated population of at least 120,000, was swept away or buried in brown mud. State media said at least 891 buildings were destroyed in the city, and the mayor said 20,000 people may have been killed.
Another resident said people were confused about what to do next.
“We still don’t know anything, we hear rumours, some try to convince us, others say you should leave the city or stay here. “We don’t have water and resources,” said Wasfi, one of the flood victims.
A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Libyan authorities had detected at least 55 children poisoned from drinking contaminated water in Derna, where homeless people survive in temporary shelters, schools or housed in people’s homes. .